• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.37 no.9
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• pp.1175-1182
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• 2013

The lock-in mode infrared thermography (IRT) technique has been developed to improve the detection capability of defects in materials with high thermal conductivity, and it has been shown to provide better detection capability than conventional active IRT. Therefore, to investigate the application of this technique to nuclear piping components, lock-in mode IRT tests were conducted on pipe specimens containing simulated wall-thinning defects. Phase images of the wall-thinning defects were obtained from the tests, and they were compared with thermal images obtained from conventional active IRT tests. It showed that the ability to size the detected wall-thinning defects in piping components was improved by using lock-in mode IRT. The improvement was especially apparent when detecting short and narrow defects and defects with slanted edges. However, the detection capability for shallow wall-thinning defects did not improve much when using lock-in mode IRT.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Gas
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• v.10 no.3 s.32
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• pp.7-12
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• 2006

In this paper, a new evaluation scheme is suggested to estimate load-carrying capacities of wall thinned pipes. At first, computational fluid dynamics analyses employing steady-state and incompressible flow are carried out to determine pressure distributions in accordance with conveying fluid. Then, the variational pressures are applied as input condition of structural finite element analyses to calculate local stresses at the deepest point. The efficiency of proposed scheme was proven from comparison to conventional analyses results and it is recommended to consider the fluid structure interaction effect for exact integrity evaluation.

• Journal of Korean Society of Steel Construction
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• v.24 no.6
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• pp.647-657
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• 2012

Although nuclear power plant piping system is designed conforming to design specifications, the piping systems are deteriorated with increase in service life. In this study, monotonic and cyclic loading tests were carried out on TP316 stainless steel pipe specimens, and the effect of local wall thinning and cracking on failure behavior was investigated. In the tests, 0%, 35% and 75% wall thinning and cracking of initial thickness were artificially introduced to inside elbow and straight pipe specimens, and internal pressures of 20MPa were applied to simulate real operation condition. From the test results, the effect of local wall thinning and cracking on failure mode, ultimate load, number of cycle and strain energy was presented, and maximum bending moment was compared with allowable bending moment calculated by ASME code.

• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 2005.11a
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• pp.115.1-115.1
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• 2005

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.191-198
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• 2008

Flow accelerated corrosion (FAC) phenomenon of low alloy carbon steels in nuclear power plant has been known as one of major degradation mechanisms. It has a potential to cause nuclear pipe rupture accident which may directly impact on the plant reliability and safety. Recently, the equipotential switching direct current potential drop (ES-DCPD) method has been developed, by the present authors, as a method to monitor wall loss in a piping. This method can rapidly monitor the thinning of piping, utilizing either the wide range monitoring (WiRM) or the narrow range monitoring (NaRM) technique. WiRM is a method to monitor wide range of straight piping, whereas NaRM focuses significantly on a narrow range such as an elbow. WiRM and NaRM can improve the reliability of the current FAC screening method that is based on computer modeling on fluid flow conditions. In this paper, the measurements by ES-DCPD are performed with signal sensitivity analyses in the laboratory environment for extended period and showed the viability of ES-DCPD for real plant applications.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.12-19
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• 2012

This study conducted infrared (IR) thermography tests using pipe and plate specimens with artificial wall-thinning defects to find an optimal condition for IR thermography test on the wall-thinned nuclear piping components. In the experiment halogen lamp was used to heat the specimens. The distance between the specimen and the lamp and the intensity of halogen lamp were regarded as experimental parameter. When the distance was set to 1~2 m and the lamp intensity was above 60 % of full power, a single scanning of IR thermography detected all artificial wall-thinning defects, whose minimum dimension was $2{\Theta}=90^{\circ}$, d/t=0.5, and $L/D_o=0.25$, within the pipe of 500 mm in length. Regardless of the distance between the specimen and the lamp, the image of wall-thinning defect in IR thermography became distinctive as the intensity of halogen lamp increased. The detectability of IR thermography was similar for both plate and pipe specimens, but the optimal test condition for IR thermography depended on the type of specimen.

• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 2001.06a
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• pp.357-362
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• 2001

The pipe fracture tests were performed on 102mm-Sch.80 carbon steel pipe with various local wall thinning shapes, in order to understand failure behavior of thinned pipe. Pipe specimens were subjected to monotonic bending moment, using 4-points loading system, under internally pressurized condition. From the results of experiment, the failure mode, load carrying capacity, and deformability of local wall thinning pipe were investigated. Failure mode of thinned pipe depended on magnitude of internal pressure and thinning length as well as loading direction and thinning depth and angle. The variation in load carrying capacity and deformability of thinned pipe with length of thinned area was determined by stress type appled to thinning region and circumferential thinning angle. Also, the effect of internal pressure on failure behavior was dependent on failure mode of thinned pipe, and it promoted crack occurrence and mitigated local buckling at thinned area.

• Proceedings of the Korea Committee for Ocean Resources and Engineering Conference
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• 2004.05a
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• pp.320-325
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• 2004

Fracture behaviors and strength of pipes with local wall thinning are very important Jar the integrity of energy plants. In pipes of energy plants, sometimes, the local wall thinning may result from severe erosion-corrosion damage. Recently, the effects of local wall thinning on strength and fracture behaviors of piping system have been well studied. In this paper, the elasto-plastic analysis is performed by FE code ANSIS. We evaluated the failure mode, fracture strength and fracture behavior from FE analysis.

• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 2001.06a
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• pp.351-356
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• 2001

A potential loss of structural integrity due to aging of nuclear piping may have a significant effect on the safety of nuclear power plants. In particular, failures due to the erosion and corrosion defects are a major concern. As a result, there is a need to assess the remaining strength of pipe with erosion/corrosion defects. In this paper, a limit load solution for the eroded and corroded SA106 Grade B pipes subjected by internal pressure is developed. based in 3-D finite element analyses, considering a wide range of the shape of pipeline, flaw depth and axial flaw length parametrically.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.81-88
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• 2001

This study proposed an analytical method to evaluate a local allowable wall thickness (LAWT) for locally thinned pipe subjected to internal pressure and bending moment. In this method, the stresses in the thinned region were calculated by finite element analysis and plastic collapse was applied as a failure criterion of thinned pipe. Using this method, LAWT for a simplified thinned pipe was evaluated with variation in axial extent of thinned area, and it was compared with allowable wall thickness provided by previous pipe wall thickness criteria. The results showed that the LAWT was lower, about 50%, than that calculated by construction code or ASME Code N-597, and it was higher, about 2 times, than that estimated by evaluation model based on pipe experiments. In addition, LAWT was decreased with increasing axial extent of thinned area and saturated with further increase in axial extent. And, the variation in LAWT with axial extent of thinned area depended on type of load, especially a magnitude of bending moment, considering in the evaluation.